Giraffes
by PrincessKadenceOfMusic
Summary: Set between when Ellie and Joel leave the hospital and when they get where they're going. A little bonding! :D


**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. **

**AN: This is way different from what I normally write. My family all watched my brother play this game, and I liked the plot. A friend of mine requested that I write this, so I did. I'm probably not going to do anything else in this fandom. Also, I am fully aware that I moved the herd from Utah to Colorado. I felt like it needed to be further away, and I couldn't figure out how to make that happen without being weird about it. Give thoughts! :D **

As they approached the campus of the University of Eastern Colorado, Joel pulled the car to a stop. Ellie was still asleep in the back, but he felt that he owed her a little bit of fun. He got out of the car and opened the back door.

"Ellie," he gently shook the young girl awake, "Ellie, it's time to get up." Ellie's hazel eyes fluttered open, and her voice still sounded slightly weak. "Where are we?"

"We're in Colorado."

"Is this where we're staying?"

"No, but I want to give you a few things." Joel helped Ellie sit up and she gingerly stepped out of the car. She began to move steadily quicker as the last of the drugs wore off. Once she'd gotten her bearings, Joel led her to a pond.

"What are we doing?" Ellie looked at him with confusion in her eyes.

"Something we should have done back in Boston." Joel jumped into the water, just deep enough that he could stand in it. "Jump. I'll catch you." The small girl tensed visibly, so he consoled her. "I'm always here for you, baby girl."

Ellie crouched on the side of the pond and jumped straight into Joel's waiting arms. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her so her head stayed above water. "Now, Ellie, I want you to hold your arms as if you're praying, and then separate them, so you move the water." After Ellie figured out how to do that, Joel added more. "Now, kick your legs gently…Good! I'm going to let go now, and you just keep doing that." As he let go of the young girl, she kept swimming all on her own. She was actually very good at it. "Good job!" Joel praised her, "Now, can you try to move around by aiming your arms where you want to go?"

"I can try." Within a few more minutes, she was swimming well enough that she wouldn't almost drown if she fell in another river. "Why didn't you do that when we first came to the subway that was flooded? It would have been so much easier than working with those rafts as long as we did."

"Trust me, baby girl, I have absolutely no idea why I didn't do this sooner. But let's get out of the water. It'll be dark soon, and there's one more thing we have to do." After climbing out himself, Joel grabbed Ellie's arm and helped her climb out.

The pair walked, still wet from the pond, to a huge open field. Ellie remembered this field immidiantly; it was where she had seen the giraffes. It was hard to believe that was only a week ago. It felt like a lifetime had passed. Sure enough, the herd of giraffes were still in the field. She felt so small now. The first time she'd seen the giraffes, she'd been on a ledge, almost equal height with them. Now, she didn't even come halfway up their legs. Joel seemed completely unfazed, as he often was. He was so smart! Of course, nothing could surprise him. He'd been alive long before the first outbreak…back when they had things like ice cream trucks in their everyday lives. Maybe giraffes had roamed freely then too.

"Come here, Ellie." The voice pulled Ellie from her thoughts as she realized Joel had found a ladder and propped it up against a tree. Smiling at the fact that ladders seemed to be located in the most random places, she jogged over to the tree and climbed up. Now she was about as high as the giraffes' backs. Joel climbed after her and helped her onto the huge animal. Soon, they were both sitting on top of it.

"Hi. I'm gonna call you Torpid."

"Ellie?"

"Yeah, Joel?"

"Why do you insist on naming all the animals we touch insults?"

"Because we have yet to meet a reasonable animal."

Joel couldn't think of a comeback for that. "Well, baby girl, when you said you wished you could ride a giraffe, is this what you hoped for?"

"Yeah, actually. The view is amazing."

"If you turn to your right, you'll be able to see the sunset."

Ellie turned her head. The sunset over the plains was so beautiful. It was never like that in Boston, and since she'd started her trip, so long ago, she hadn't bothered to watch the sunset very much.

Her mind turned to reflection on this whole trip. She remembered the first day she'd met Joel…and Tess. Joel and Tess had come into her room, and she hadn't seen Marlene following them. So, the two had their first impression of her as she pointed a gun at their faces. When Marlene had asked the two of them to take her to the capital building, Joel had protested. So had Ellie, of course. Tess was the only one of the three who seemed somewhat willing. And when Tess admitted that she'd been bitten, not two days later, Ellie was sure she'd be thrown out on her own. But Joel kept going. They'd gone all the way from Boston to Salt Lake, and for nothing. The Fireflies didn't even need her. But right now, as she sat with her newly adopted father on a giraffe's back and watched the sunset, it all seemed worth it.


End file.
